15 Must Visit Melbourne Attractions & Travel Guide

1. Melbourne City Circle Tram

The City Circle Tram in Melbourne is a boon to Melbourne visitors. It operates daily along a city circuit passing a number of Melbourne attractions.

Not only is travel completely free on the City Circle Tram but you get a running commentary on the places of interest along its route. You can get off the tram at any of its stops, so you can visit particular attractions at close hand, and catch the next one.

6. 12 Apostles at Great Ocean Road

The Twelve Apostles are giant rock stacks that rise majestically from the Southern Ocean and are the central feature of the rugged Port Campbell National Park.

The Twelve Apostles have been created by constant erosion of the limestone cliffs of the mainland that began 10–20 million years ago. The stormy Southern Ocean and blasting winds gradually eroded the softer limestone, forming caves in the cliffs.

The caves eventually became arches and when they collapsed rock stacks up to 45 metres high were left isolated from the shore.

Sunrise and sunset offer particularly impressive views as the Twelve Apostles change colour from dark and foreboding in shadow to brilliant sandy yellow under a full sun.

7. Puffing Billy

Puffing Billy, Australia’s oldest surviving and famously preserved steam railway. The 25-kilometre journey takes visitors through thick forests and lush fern-filled gullies from Belgrave, only one hour east of Melbourne, to Emerald Lake Park and Gembrook.

Puffing Billy also offers first-class travel and dining experiences, with lunch, Devonshire tea and evening meals available on the ‘Night Train’. You can catch the train at any of the stations along the way, or simply watch it leisurely go by from one of the station refreshment rooms.

Price

Getting There

By Train

Travel to Belgrave via the ‘Belgrave Line’. Upon your arrival at Belgrave Station, simply follow the blue line painted on the platform to Puffing Billy Station.

8. Healesvile Sanctuary

Tucked in to the foothills of the Yarra Ranges, Healesville Sanctuary offers a distinctly Australian wildlife experience and an introduction to the sights and sounds of the bush.

Get close to over 200 species of Australian wildlife, including platypus, koalas, emus, Tasmanian devils, lyrebirds, wombats and eagles. Daily ‘Meet the Keeper’ sessions are an ideal way to learn from the experts who care for the animals.

Catch the spectacular ‘Birds of Prey’ presentation everyday at 12pm & 2.30pm, starring the wedge-tailed eagle with its two-metre wingspan, and the peregrine falcon as it dives from the top of a gum tree.

Opening Hours

Price

Getting There

9. Yarra Valley Wineries

Sit back and allow the experts to introduce you to the famous food and wine of the Yarra Valley region.

Join a luxury food and wine tour or customise your route in consultation with your guide to take in some of Victoria’s best cellar doors, produce, and fine dining.

If you prefer to go it alone, there are several self-drive touring routes in the region, including the Yarra Valley Regional Food Trail.

Discover and sample the best produce and wine in the Yarra Valley at farm gates, roadside stalls, wineries, and gourmet outlets. You can even take to the skies and arrive at a winery in a hot air balloon.

10. Melbourne Cafes

Melbourne is the coffee capital of Australia. In the CBD, the cobblestoned laneways are filled with the aroma of espresso coming from a myriad of cafés.

Visiting Melbourne without enjoying its unique coffee is a definitely a big loss.

Melbourne has a long and rich coffee culture beginning with Victorian era coffee palaces and further enhanced by Italian migrants arriving in the aftermath of World War II.

Australians are fiercely independent when it comes to their java, and Melbourne’s residents even more so.

Perhaps the best proof of Melbournian pride in the city’s independent coffee culture came in 2008, when Starbucks was forced to close 16 Melbourne outlets (and scores more throughout Australia) after failing to make robust enough inroads into Australia’s entrenched coffee culture.

Tommy Ooi’s Traveling Tips

Have no idea where to start your coffee journey? Try Brunswick Street in Fitzroy. It is Melbourne’s go-to destination for some of the city’s best coffee houses.

11. Peninsula Hot Springs

Peninsula Hot Springs is the first natural hot springs & day spa centre in Victoria around 1.5Hrs from Melbourne.

Natural thermal mineral waters flow into the pools and private baths providing the idyllic setting for relaxation and rejuvenation.

14. Sovereign Hill

Step back in time and experience Australia’s exciting goldrush days at Sovereign Hill. Set on a former goldmining site, this award winning outdoor museum recreates in fascinating detail the hustle and bustle of life in the 1850s. There is so much to do and see.

In the diggings you can pan for REAL gold! Witness $50,000 of molten gold being poured into a bullion bar at Sovereign Hill’s Goldpour.

Go 13 metres underground on a tour of the Red Hill Mine, which uses life-size, moving “holograms” to reincarnate battling Cornish miner, Richard Jeffrey as he stumbles on what was the biggest gold nugget ever found, the Welcome Nugget – at 69 kilograms, still the second largest nugget in the world.

Sovereign Hill’s Main Street is busy with people in colourful costumes and horse-drawn vehicles. Craftsmen are at work throughout the township, with a variety of shops and businesses open to purchase goods – grocers, candle maker, blacksmith and jewellers to name a few.

Opening Hours

Daily 10.00am – 5.00pm

Price

15. Melbourne Aquarium

Explore a world unlike any other in Antarctica – one of the four exciting and entertaining worlds at Melbourne Aquarium. Marvel as the majestic King and cheeky Gentoo penguins play in the pool and slide across the snow-covered ice.

The colourful and vibrant Weird & Wonderful journey allows you to experience some of the strangest marine animals in the world and these creatures will certainly challenge how you believe a fish should behave and what it should look like.

Melbourne Aquarium’s 2.2 million litre Oceanarium features a panoramic Fish Bowl viewing area that allows you to feel as though you are underwater with intimidating sharks, massive stingrays, turtles and hundreds of fish swimming overhead.

Price

Adult – AUD 32.50

Children – AUD 18.50

Family ( 2 Adult + 2 Children ) – AUD 87.50

Opening Hours

Daily 9.30am – 6.00pm

Getting There

Tram

1. Tram routes 70 and 75

2. Take the free City Circle Tram. Stopping in front of Melbourne Aquarium

Bus

Take the FREE Melbourne City Tourist Shuttle, stopping at Melbourne Aquarium

Check Out by Tommy Ooi

Must Eat Food in Melbourne ( coming soon )

Halal Food in Melbourne ( coming soon )

Disclaimer :

All the information above is correct upon published & is subject to change without further notice. Please make an effort to double check. Neither the author nor owner will be liable for any damage or lost caused.

After visiting Jagalchi Market, we walked across the road to Changseondong Meokja Golmok. This is a “Let’s Eat” alley which offers a pleasure of eating snack cooked on the spot in the alley. Advertisements Related

47 Comments

hello, i am from Malaysia and currently planning for a 7 days trip to melbourne. May i know how should i arrange for visiting all the locations recommended above plus any advise for accomodation? i will go with another 2 friends. hope to hear from you soon. thanks

Hi Tommy, I will be visiting Melbourne from 1st to 10th September with my hubby, and a mother and daughter team. Would be great if you could recommend the most suitable place, either a two room apartment, or a hotel for the duration of our stay. Easy access to public transport, eateries, cafés , shopping and sightseeing would be ideal. Your early reply would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Hi tommy the last Tim I visited Melbourne was more than 10 years ago I would like to visit Melbourne in June/July and you have refresh my memory or my former visits but would love to do the visits again Problem now is I have mobility difficult like I cannot climb stairs or wolf very long distance but still loves to travel please advise how friendly is Melbourne now for someone like me please going with my beautiful granddaughter

Dear Mr Tommy I will be visiting Melbourne on 3/3 (6 nights) with my wife and my baby(9 mths old). This is our first visit to Melbourne. I have also pre-planned to visit some main attractions in Melbourne as shown below.

HI, Tommy, Thank you for the information provided. Can you advise us where is the best central location/ area to stay so that we can conveniently cover those 15 attractions. Appreciate if you can advise because I am in the process to book my hotel for my September trip. Cheers.

Hi Sam, anywhere in Melbourne CBD (Central Business District) is convenient for you to get around plus trams in CBD are free. However few attractions are outskirts of Melbourne approx 2 to 4 hours away so normally you can take day tour or self drive to those attractions

Hi, Tommy me and my husband fr malaysia are going to mel fr 24 april till 29 april16. This is the first time there. We plan to join the local tour but no idea which is company is liable and resonable price can u pls introduce. By the way is it safe to keep our passport with the hotel at cbd. Kindly advise, tqvm in advance.

Hi Tommy, nice n informative blog u have here :), i will go melbourne next week, n planning to visit great ocean road. Do you have any recommendation for the tour agent of full day great ocean road trip? Thanks before !!